New Cooks Corner Park Coming

Middlesex County receives $50,000 for CC park, new basketball court

by Larry Chowning –

The Middlesex County Board of Supervisors (MCBS) received at the board’s August regular meeting, $50,000 from the River Counties Community Foundation (RCCF) through a grant request from the Middlesex County Kiwanis Club. The money will assist with construction costs for a new park/outdoor basketball court that will be located behind the old Rappahannock Central Elementary (RCE) School buildings at Cooks Corner — near the existing Middlesex Pet Friends for Life Dog Park — and will cost $250,000. The primary funding is coming from federal COVID-19 funds for the project.

Assistant County Administrator Ann Marie Ricardi thanked Kiwanians and RCCF for their support and for aiding the county in receiving the $50,000. She said at the August meeting that the county now has $170,000 to go towards the park.

She said in an email this week that the physical park design will not be established until after Christmas and “more specifically when the basketball court is finished.”

“As the park is being designed, it will be easier to visualize it with the committed structures in place,” she wrote. “Overall, I’m expecting the park will be inclusive and inviting, such that the space is accessible and usable by the widest range of users with different abilities.”